Platform: Xbox Genre: Sports Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: EA Big ESRB: E (Everyone) Released: December 2004
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NFL
Street 2
Score:
8.5 / 10
Pros:
-
Xbox Live support
- Adds new game modes and features for more varied gameplay
- New Hot Spots unlock a roster of football legends
- New mini-games to break to monotony of the standard street football
game that is the core of NFL Street 2
Cons:
-
Doesn't match the overall playability of EA's NBA Street franchise
- Using typical football strategy doesn't even come into play
- Game's A.I. can be fooled with play action too easily
"Don't come to the Street looking for a Madden-type of strategy-first
football game."
Growing
up a sports fanatic in a big city, if I wanted to play football, there
weren't too many places besides the street to play. Sure, there were the
local playgrounds and some open, abandoned lots throughout my
Philadelphia neighborhood, but it was in the street where we would play
our urban football wars the most. Cars could be used as blockers, and
marked the endzones. And on the side streets filled with row houses,
traffic wasn't too much of a hassle. During the heat of battle, each of
us would envision ourselves as some sort of gridiron superstar.
Of course, we weren't insane enough to be tackling each other on
asphalt, but the same spirit of those fall afternoons throwing around a
football on the Philly streets is what pervades though EA's NFL Street
2. The game was inspired by the extremely successful NBA Street
franchise and follows up on last year's well-received NFL Street. Urban
football, albeit in an over-the-top, arcade-oriented game style is found
in championship form in NFL Street 2, which improves upon the original
with added content and bonuses, and Xbox owners finally get the benefit
of Xbox Live support for the first time.
Following in the tracks of the first game, NFL Street 2 again brings the
game of street football back, this time with some new game modes and
gameplay enhancements. In addition to the standard pickup game of
football pitting you against another squad of rough-and-tumble street
footballers throughout urbanized locales, and NFL Challenge, where you
square off against NFL players, NFL Street 2 has Own the City, NFL
Gauntlet, and Street Event modes. Own the City has you create your own
team of city ballers that try and dominate one neighborhood at a time.
NFL Gauntlet squares you off
against each and every NFL team to prove your ball skills. And Street
Event mini-games such as Crush the Carrier are fresh, but prove nothing
more than minor diversionary undertakings.
Another new element this year is the "hot spot," which are
billboards on the fences and walls on the sidelines of the field that,
if you do a wall move on the particular hot spot, will unlock a NFL
legendary player like Jack Lambert, Barry Sanders, or Bo "Bo
knows" Jackson to use in pick-up games. You can also get the hot
spot by tackling an opponent right on the spot (and your opponent can
conversely claim the hot spot for themselves with a well-timed tackle,
although the A. I. won't get the advantage of an unlocked player as a
benefit).
Wall
moves, a nice new touch, are extensions of the trash-talkin' style moves
that give you points to generate Gamebreakers that can mean the
difference between taking a slow, disgraced El ride home following a
humbling loss or a jubilant chest-puffing walk through the hood
proclaiming your football might.
Gamebreakers
are again a prominent feature, and they really do come into the strategy
of playing NFL Street 2. Once you pull off enough
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style moves to collect enough
points to get a Gamebreaker, you can activate a Gamebreaker or the much
more effective Gamebreaker 2 before your opponent has a Gamebreaker
usually the result is a touchdown for you on offense or a turnover
on defense. But if your opponent (real or A.I) has a gamebreaker, he can
negate yours by activating theirs at the same time. That works in your
favor too, if you want to counteract an opponent's Gamebreaker.
Gameplay doesn't quite hit the mark of "street" action as its
NBA Street big brother. Football and its need for well-coached tactics
and repetitive practice to be successful just doesn't have the same
spontaneous nature that is at the heart of the street roots of
basketball. And bedsides, a lot of the strategy of football in NFL
Street 2 goes by the wayside for some Arena football-type scoring fests.
The A.I. isn't the toughest to handle, so fans of offense will love the
scoring in a typical NFL Street 2 contest. Defense isn't NFL Street 2's
strong suit, as it's quite easy to fool the A.I. with simple play-action
calls, creating wide-open receivers for your QB to hit with an easy
pass.
Controls are excellent, especially considering how many specialized
style moves are in the game. Tackling doesn't fare as well as offensive
moves, but NFL Street 2 handles smoothly overall.
Although the character models of the players are far from realistic and
more cartoonish in nature (including a shiny, plastic Toy Story look),
the game does look very good overall, although the Xbox version isn't as
far above the PS2 in the visual department as you might imagine. It's a
little ironic that the players have a more animation-style appearance
when NBA Street Vol. 3, the franchise that inspired NFL Street, has
turned towards more true-to-life player models.
The soundtrack blasts you like a 40-megaton bomb with a bombastic
assortment of hard-and-heavy rock with a generous sampling of hip-hip.
The music hits hard, but in a game that hits equally hard in its
gameplay, provides a perfect adrenaline-pumping beat for game-time.
Just like every other EA game this year, online play via Xbox Live
finally makes its debut. Once EA and Microsoft finally forged their
online alliance that they couldn't before, it was inevitable that NBA
Street 2 would let players turn into cyber playas. Setting up matches
isn't as smooth as other Xbox games such as Halo 2, but it's usually
easy to find someone to rumble online in some gridiron gaming. Smooth
and lag-free games are the norm, and while you may be king of the urban
football jungle in your own household, it isn't as easy to dominate NFL
Street 2 online.
Don't come to the Street looking for a Madden-type of strategy-first
football game. This is pure fantasized urban jungle over-the-top
football. It doesn't have the same high quality of the NBA Street series
due to the more urban roots of street basketball versus street football,
but for a good adrenaline rush of smash-mouth football, look no further
than NFL Street 2.
